Nighthawks Lose Heartbreaker To Indians

Spirit Lake started the game off with a 85 yard touchdown run on the first play of scrimmage when running back Cody Poock ran the ball over the left side. That 16 second 1 play drive put the Indians on top 7-0 with 11:38 left in the first quarter.

The Indians great start continued when on the following Nighthawk’s possession, Brandt Van Roekel threw the first of his 4 interceptions to Bryson McCabe. With all the momentum on the Spirit Lake side, the Nighthawks were able to force a field goal attempt by Brett Cochran-Bray. Dallas Rozeboom of the Nighthawks was able to partially block the kick and give the Nighthawks possession with no harm done.

On that following possession the Nighthawks were able to drive down to the 21 yard line before stalling out and getting a 38 yard field goal from David De Bruin. The score with 2:47 left in the first quarter was 7-3 in favor of the Indians.

After trading an interception and a fumble, the Indians took over on the Boyden Hull Rock Valley 47 yard line. Spirit Lake scored 2:21 later on a 20 yard Cody Poock touchdown run. With the extra point, the Indians extended the lead to 14-3 over the Nighthawks with 11:10 left in the first half.

Both defenses stood their ground for the rest of the first half as the score remained 14-3.

The second half started with a long Nighthawks drive that ended on a downs on the 21 yard line of Spirit Lake. Defensively, the Nighthawks stepped up in a big way when Paul Brown threw his 2nd of 4 interceptions to Brandt Van Roekel, Van Roekel returned the ball 26 yards for the score. That score from Van Roekel cut the Spirit Lake lead to 4 with 5:29 left in the 3rd quarter.

The Nighthawks Andrew Van Ginkel intercepted another Brown pass on the next possession which led to a 42 yard touchdown drive which lasted 3:13. Boyden Hull Rock Valley’s drive was finished off when Van Roekel found Miguel Alvarado for the 8 yard touchdown pass. With that score and extra point the Nighthawks took the 17-14 lead with :58 left in the 3rd quarter.

The Nighthawks lead would not last though, as the Indians took over with 7:50 left and drove the ball 83 yards in 7:06. Spirit Lake scored on a Paul Brown to Poock 19 yard touchdown pass. The extra point made the score 21-17 and the Nighthawks had just 44 seconds left to score.

Nighthawks season would come to an end after a last ditch hail mary effort by Van Roekel was intercepted by the Indians making the final 21-17.

Boyden Hull Rock Valley (11-1, 6-0 in District) lost for the second straight year in the quarterfinal round. Spirit Lake (11-1, 6-0 in District) will travel to the UNI Dome and face Carroll Kuemper Catholic next week Saturday.

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